1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger and is suitably applied to a condenser or radiator of a refrigerant cycle for a vehicle air conditioner.
2. Related Art
Recently, a condenser for a refrigerant cycle shifts from a serpentine type heat exchanger to a multi-flow type heat exchanger. The serpentine type heat exchanger has a heater core formed by bending a single tube into a zigzag shape. The multi-flow type heat exchanger has a header tank disposed at one side ends of plural tubes in a longitudinal direction of the tubes. In the multi-flow type, the tubes, the header tank and a connector for connecting the header tank to a pipe are bonded with each other by brazing. Therefore, the parts need to be tentatively fastened to each other before bonding by brazing. Especially, the connector needs to be restricted from releasing from the header tank.
As shown in FIG. 6, JP-A-4-251195 discloses a heat exchanger in which an end of one of plural tubes 211 is clamped by a connector 230 in a header tank 220, thereby tentatively fastening the connector 230 to the header tank 220. However, fluid flowing through the connector 230 into the header tank 220 may mainly flow into the clamped tube 211. As a result, an amount of fluid distributed to each tube 211 becomes ununiform, and heat exchange performance of the heat exchanger is declined. Further, a passage formed inside the clamped tube 211 may be closed by the connector 230. As a result, an amount of fluid distributed to each tube 211 becomes ununiform.
As shown in FIG. 7, JP-A-4-251196 discloses another heat exchanger in which a connector 330 penetrates the header tank 320 to be tentatively fastened to the header tank 320. However, in this case, a flow amount of fluid in the header tank 320 may largely differ between both sides of the connector 330, i.e., between an upper side and a lower side of the connector 330 in FIG. 7. Therefore, the connector 330 needs to be disposed at a longitudinal end of the header tank 320, and design of the heat exchanger is restricted.